Mangaluru: Police in Dakshina Kannada district have arrested two men who had been absconding for nearly 26 years in connection with a communal riot case reported in Mulki in December 1998. The long-pending case has now seen significant progress after the duo was traced and remanded to judicial custody.
Case details from 1998
According to police, the case dates back to December 31, 1998, when communal riots broke out in Haleangadi under Mulki police station limits. The violence resulted in incidents of arson and property damage, prompting police to register cases under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The accused, identified as Leeladhar (52), a resident of Kemral village in Mulki taluk, and Chandrahass Keshav Shetty (59), of Pedupanambur, Haleangadi, Mangaluru, were named in the original chargesheet. However, they failed to appear before the court, forcing the Senior Civil Judge and JMFC Court, Moodbidri, to declare the case as “long pending.”
Arrest of the accused
Acting on specific intelligence, Mulki police recently traced Leeladhar, who had quietly returned to his native place and was staying in a rented house in Kemral. He was taken into custody and produced before court, which remanded him to judicial custody.
In a parallel operation, Chandrahass Shetty, who had fled to Dubai soon after the riots, was detained at Mumbai International Airport on August 30, 2025, upon his arrival in India. He too was produced before the court and remanded.
Fresh charges for absconding
Police confirmed that apart from the original charges under IPC, fresh cases have now been registered against the duo under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for violating court proclamation orders by absconding for over two decades.
Importance of the arrests
Officials said the arrests demonstrate the department’s commitment to pursuing long-pending riot cases and ensuring that accused individuals cannot indefinitely evade justice.
“No matter how long it takes, the law will catch up with those who try to escape its reach,” a senior officer remarked.
The larger context
The Mulki riot case is one among several communal disturbances reported in coastal Karnataka in the late 1990s. Police said that with the arrest of these two men, they hope to move towards closure in the case, which has remained unresolved for more than two decades.